Romans 13:10

Romans 13:10 - Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore Love is the fulfillment of the law.

Jesus gave us this command and now Paul is saying it again. As he began this passage Paul says, “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to Love one another.” He goes on to talk about how Love fulfills all of the commandments. When Jesus spoke these words He said that we are to Love God above all else and Love others as ourselves. Then He went on to say that if we follow these two things we will be obeying the whole law.

Now, let’s take a look at this a little closer. How is Love the fulfillment of the law? Before Christ came to earth there was the law. If you broke the law you were punished accordingly. It was a set of rules to be followed, but nobody could do it. We were all guilty of breaking the law.

Then Jesus came. He was able to obey the law to the letter and had no sin in His life. Through His life, death and resurrection He freed us from the law. Does that mean we no longer have to follow it? Absolutely not. In fact Jesus actually set us to a higher standard. He broke us free from the curse of the law and told us to Love others.

Now this is where our new command comes in. Love one another. Basically Jesus said, “Don’t obey the law and treat others right because you have to; Obey the law and treat others right because you Love them.” The law was put in place to keep us from harming ourselves and each other. If we truly Love our neighbor we won’t want to harm them. We will want what’s best for them, so in turn we will be obeying the law because of Love.

To restate what Paul said at the beginning of this passage, “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to Love one another.” If you have a question of what is right or wrong, ask yourself if it is based out of Love; either towards God or toward another person. If you Love God and Love one another you will want to show them Love, not harm.